Amazónia Is Burning: ‘No Es Fuego, Es Capitalismo’

Currently, thousands of fires are burning throughout the Amazon rainforest—of which 60 per cent is in Brazil—making it the worst blaze seen there in almost a decade. The National Institute for Space Research claims its satellite data shows an 85 per cent increase in forest fires from the same period of 2018. Due to the fires, clouds of smoke have travelled across Brazil sending alarming amounts of carbon into the world’s atmosphere and even plunging São Paulo—a city around 1,000 miles away from the fires—into partial darkness.

Many accuse Bolsonaro, Brazil’s President of around eight months, for the rapid increase in fires arguing his anti-environmental rhetoric and policies have encouraged illegal fire-starting activity in order to allow for growth in agriculture and logging. While this, of course, has some truth, during this report I want to question the wider industries and economic factors that have influenced Bolsonaro to take this position. Perhaps, it becomes too one dimensional to blame just one man for these fires when the agricultural industry has slowly been eroding the protection of the Amazon: their interests, as well as global economic ones, are vital to take into account.

We need to ask wider questions about the transnational industry and the demand global capitalism creates, and we need to ask them fast. The Amazon not only provides a home to around one million Indigenous people but also provides a vital service to the world as a home for biodiversity, massive carbon sink and provider of oxygen. Scientists argue if these fires continue at such an alarming rate, the rainforest will reach a tipping point in which too much of it will have been destroyed and the rest will irreversibly degrade into dry savannah. We cannot allow this to happen, for the millions of Indigenous lives that will be affected, and the almost fatal blow this could play in the fight against climate breakdown.

Why Is The Amazon Important?

Mentioning this only briefly earlier its vital to stress the importance of protecting the Amazon and the issues that failing to do this will create. We must remember its vital importance both ecologically and socially when questioning the kinds of solutions we must enact in order to protect it.

Thinking about those that live in the Amazon, as mentioned before, it provides a home to about one million Indigenous people. Indigenous population of the Amazon have learnt to live in harmony with the Amazon’s ecosystem, and have done for hundreds of years. They are completely dependent of the forest for resources, to provide them with homes and their way of life. Whilst issues around deforestation and illegal fires have been problems that have long blighted indigenous communities, they have reached a new high point in recent times —remembering the statistic of an 85 per cent increase in fires this year. Whilst areas inhabited by indigenous people tend to be those that avoid the bulk of the fires ,since loggers are partially deterred by them, Amazonian communities are still reporting that they have received death threats from land-grabbers. According to Amnesty International, who met with 23 Indigenous people from various regions, people claimed that recent logging had ‘felt different’. The Indigenous communities had seen an increase in illegal activity and fires, and closer to their homes. Whilst these fires increase, and dangerous amounts of the forest continues to burn, the Amazon tips closer to a point of irreparable damage and these peoples livelihood remain completely threatened.

Thinking environmentally about the disaster that will incur if these fires destroy the Amazon irreparably, the rainforest acts as the world’s biggest carbon sink—absorbing around a million tonnes of carbon emissions per year. Vast amounts of carbon are stored in the trunks of trees and soil, and when this is burned the carbon is re-released into the atmosphere. As well as carbon sequestering, the Amazon also acts as a water pump bringing water from the soil into the atmosphere—providing clean rainfall across the western hemisphere. 20 per cent of the Amazon has currently been destroyed, and with the number increasing scientists have warned that if a tipping point is reached when 25-30 per cent of the forest is destroyed, the whole forest could dry out and become no more. This situation is not only incredibly sad due to the loss of biodiversity and violation of indigenous land rights, but would also amount to the same emission of carbon that all of human output since 1880. It would perhaps spell the end of the human fight against climate breakdown and potentially lead to runaway climate change. Humanities future cannot be gambled, this is an issue that must be resolved: the Amazon is a lifeline for all of mankind and must be protected.

Who Is Burning Down the Amazon?

To answer simply, when looking at the cause of the fires most are manmade and deliberate. Some are caused by smallholders burning stubble after harvest or farmers attempting to clear forest to allow for crop growing whilst others are caused by illegal land-grabbers starting fires in order to burn down trees to make land more valuable and appropriate for crop growing.

However, if we want to explain why we have seen such a significant increase from years before, many point the finger towards Jair Bolsonaro’s Government. Bolsonaro centred his presidential campaign on promising to privatize the rainforest—utilizing it for agricultural and mining purposes—and during his time in office, he has weakened Brazil’s environment agency, scaled back protection funding and fired the head of the space agency. Activists claim that Bolsonaro’s anti-environment rhetoric has encouraged farmers and land-grabbers to engage in increased levels of tree-clearing activities, with at times Bolsonaro even openly encouraging people to clear the rainforest. However, it isn’t perhaps simple enough to point the finger at one man. The agricultural lobby in which the President’s actions support is incredibly powerful, and has steadily worked to erode the Amazon’s protection system. Whilst the rate of fires has increased since the new Brazilian government’s rule, which can be explained by Bolsonaro’s actions, we must begin to ask wider more radical questions about the world’s economic systems, massive industries and extractivist policies that, in the legacy of colonialism, Brazil has long been encouraged to follow.

Perhaps, we must look towards the fact that Brazil continues in a downward economic spiral as a contributing factor in increasing the exploitation of the Amazon and environmentally destructive practices. Industries in Brazil will look to increase productivity as the economy suffers, wanting more land for agriculture and therefore more areas of rainforest cleared. Thinking wider, we must realize that Brazil is a central exporter of soy, beef, coffee and various other products to feed global demand. The world’ss overconsumption of these environmentally damaging products creates a motivation for Bolsonaro and the agricultural industry to exploit the Amazon and in turn reap massive profits. Bolsonaro is one man, whose policies and agenda represents the global climate-denying right-wing tide, alongside intensifying industrial interests influenced by global capitalist economics.

What Can We Do About It?

At present, international action should be swift and clear in order to attempt to slow the alarmingly high rate of fires we have seen this year. Perhaps, trade agreements should be threatened and imports from Brazil banned in order to force Bolsonaro away from his policy of extreme deforestation. We have seen Macron threaten just this, both France and Ireland have come out in saying they will not ratify a huge EU trade deal with South American nations unless Brazil does more to fight the fires in the Amazon.

However, whilst this may dull Bolsonaro’s seeming determination to encourage the rapid clearing of the rainforest, deforestation will continue to be a serious issue for the Amazon as long as this remains in the interests of the agricultural industry in Brazil. Global demand for Brazil’s raw materials and the resources the Amazon provides means money is there to be made. We must recognize that at present our global capitalist economy focuses on maximizing profits which in turn creates an assault on our natural resources as seen here in the case of the Amazon. And so, if we truly care about the Amazon—stressing its vital importance both ecologically and socially—we must begin to call out and question powerful economic forces that drive and profit from its destruction.

A Closing Thought

The Amazon is currently burning at alarming rates, so much so that scientists fear the rainforest could reach a tipping point whereby the ecosystem will collapse leaving behind dry savannah. The consequences of this would be unimaginable, one million people would lose their homes and the ecological consequences would be disastrous: it could seriously throw into question humanities future entirely. Whilst this is undoubtedly fuelled by President Bolsonaro’s actions—and perhaps swift international action could work to discourage him—if we are to effectively preserve the Amazon for the long term we must seriously question the economic motivations behind burning it down. We must discuss the power of international finance and industry, and perhaps begin to challenge the ways in which we live and the demand for raw material our global levels of consumption create.

Rosie Latchford

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